The day has come...

I stayed up last night organizing the team jerseys until about midnight and called it a night. Didn't get much rest with a 545 wakeup call. I'm feeling anxious to get the ride started and hop on my bike. It's been over 2 weeks since i last got on and i'm afraid that my legs forgot its pain threshold. When we arrived to the start of the ride at University of Washington, we found out that they altered the route and increased the mileage by 20 miles, a total of 90 on the first day. Ed and I were the last to leave the ride because of the Lee paparazzi and a local news crew came an interviewed us and asked why we're riding. I gave some "let's do it for the skipper" type speeches. after that we were on our way. we strolled through the first 20 miles with a new buddy Rueben, an alleycat bike racer and bike messenger in minneapolis. During the ride the Lee Paparazzi harassed us, but got great action photos of us. The cool part about the 'razzi is that they double as a cheerleading squad. I wish they were there for the second half of the ride because there were some killer climbs, 6100 feet of total climbing strung across 90 miles. when the ride ended I set up my tent, mingled with the riders i didn't get to meet and passed out the team jerseys. Everyone loved them and they should cuz they're awesome.